Dad charged in death of 5-week-old daughter released on bond (Hancock, Maryland)

Dad NICHOLAS RAY MCKEE has been released from jail on a $150,000 bond. He is charged with 1st-degree assault and 1st-degree child abuse in the shaking death of his 5-week-old daughter.

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Father charged with child abuse is released on bond

January 19, 2010

A father charged with injuring his 5-week-old Hancock daughter, who died Jan. 9 at a Washington, D.C., hospital, was released from the Washington County Detention Center on $150,000 bond Monday afternoon, a spokeswoman at the jail said.

Nicholas Ray McKee, 22, of 453 Flickerville Road in Warfordsburg, Pa., was charged Jan. 8 with first-degree assault and first-degree child abuse.

Bella Evangeline Appel, who was born Nov. 27, 2009, was pronounced dead at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 9.

A doctor who examined the infant described her injuries as being consistent with “vigorous shaking,” according to allegations contained in court records.

At a bond review hearing in Washington County District Court last week, Judge Ralph France kept the bond for McKee at $150,000.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 2 at 8:30 a.m.

Bella’s mother is Jordan J. Appel of Hancock.

Hancock Fire and Rescue responded to a call of a child in cardiac arrest Jan. 3 at 139 Washington St. in Hancock, court records state. Court records indicate that Jordan Appel lived with her boyfriend, McKee, at that address.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Bella was celebrated Friday at St. Peter Catholic Church in Hancock, according to her obituary in Tuesday’s Herald-Mail.